HoTech 2" & 1.25" SCA Laser Collimator for Newtonian Telescope - Crosshair Model # SCA-2C

I got a cheap orion laser collimator at first but it was loose and a little off on top of that. This is twice the price, but is alligned perfectly and can be locked in place with no wiggle. The crosshairs are really nice too. It's not hit or miss. It's also dead on with my collimator cap, witch my other one wasn't. Only one you'll ever need.

I have a 13 inch dobsonian with a very crude mirror mount. I have not bothered to align the system for a long time. I had the type of alignment system that has a small eyepiece with a hole in it. It requires daylight and you have to move back and forth from the back of the telescope tube to the eyepiece to align, always getting confused of which screw you last tightened or loosened. This system allows me to watch the alignment as I adjust the screws and it now takes me 20 seconds to align the scope and the images look amazing! Thanks!

Great and easy to use. Works like a champ on my 16" dob. However have to guess a bit on the old 4" since the red dot is spread into a concentric set of diamonds on the cross hairs on the little telescope but it has made the views much much better.

I've used a simple laser collimator for years for my f/4 8" reflector. I was using the type with no side-view faceplate; it was the type with just a straight laser coming out the bottom. I decided to upgrade after 15 years to this Hotech SCA collimator. On first use, I decided to try and collimate my scope using my old collimator and did my normal routine. I know I've been using my previous unit correctly (as correctly as you can), but there is slop in the focuser, and there is also no real good way to know when the primary is "on target" without the side-view faceplate. I also hate looking at the bright dot of the laser (was I damaging my eyes?). I then put in the HoTech. It eliminates the slop in holding the collimator, but also, the dot has "cross-hairs" on the centering dot so you can precisely align the secondary. During alignment of the primary was when I was really wowed. The faceplate is so nice with the crosshairs of the laser you can really, really fine tune. I've been left guessing for so many years if I had it right. So many nights I thought the viewing just wasn't as good, and now I wonder if some of those nights were just the bad luck I had that particular round of collimation due to the slop and error in trying to get the primary precisely in place...The unit itself comes in a nice box, and the machining and anodizing appears high-quality. It's really nice; I highly recommend it. I'm glad I upgraded.

Once you get the hang of it, this works pretty good. Much better than the Orion one I have, which itself is needed collimated. I find it's pretty much on par with using a Cheshire eyepiece, with the exception of, the laser makes it much easier to use in the evening than the Cheshire.

The design concept is wrong. Most of the focusers are not self centering focusers. The self centering collimator would generate more error when you put you eyepiece on after collimation.

Though a tad higher priced I really do love this collimator! I particularly like the cross laser feature, it's not just a "dot" but a nice "cross pattern that is easily discernible from the back of my dobsonian telescope. I would definitely recommend this to anyone wanting a quality piece of astronomy equipment. You get what you pay for and with this one by HoTech you get quality.

This item has worked very well and I'm happy I bought it. There is a lot of online advice on collimating a scope to wade through and at the end this HoTech collimator is working as advertised and doing a great job. My only advice is to be sure and give the scope enough cooldown time.